


There and Back Again Part 6

by Carisa_Ironfell



Series: There and Back Again [6]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Bard has terrible timing, Battle of Five Armies - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bilbo is short, But Bard won't for much longer if he isn't careful, Gen, HEY GUYS LOOK HOW LONG THIS ONE IS!!! :D, M/M, The slow burn is heating up, Thorin Is Not Amused, Thorin is still too awkward to live, about time!, even the author is getting fed up with this nonsense, everyone lives!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21674992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carisa_Ironfell/pseuds/Carisa_Ironfell
Summary: Thorin and Bilbo have a nice dinner. It would have gone very well if there hadn't been an interruption.Or: Fili and Kili's scheming has unintended consequences.
Relationships: eventual Thorin Oakenshield/Bilbo Baggins
Series: There and Back Again [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559959
Comments: 4
Kudos: 93





	There and Back Again Part 6

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to any newcomers there may be! This was not written by me, but by my sister. I am merely posting it on my account because she doesn't have one of her own. Thank you very much for reading, and we hope you enjoy!!!!

“I’m truly sorry for today, Bilbo,” Thorin said over dinner. The shifting firelight highlighted and obscured the new lines on his face in turns and if Bilbo wasn’t careful he would end up watching that dance for an unseemly amount of time.

“Don’t apologize for fulfilling your duty, Thorin,” Bilbo replied, swinging his feet under the table. Dwarves weren’t much taller than Hobbits, but their furniture was just big enough to be a little uncomfortable for him. Still, he wasn’t going to complain about the chairs when he got to have Thorin all to himself over dinner.

Thorin smiled. “Still, it’s poor manners for a host to abandon a guest that way. I regret leaving Fili and Kili in command of you. Perhaps I will be able to show you Erebor at a pace more to your liking soon.”

Bilbo laughed lightly. “I would enjoy that. I like them, but they have more energy than any tweens I’ve ever met. Certainly more than I did at that age.”

Come to think of it, he wasn’t sure how his age matched up with those of Thorin’s family. He might find himself the junior of Fili and Kili if he asked too many questions.

That wasn’t important. More important was Bilbo’s sudden sense of crushing failure. As a Hobbit, this meal should have assumed a much bigger role in his mind than it was currently doing. He would bring shame on the Shire, picking at his food the way he was.

Thankfully, Thorin didn’t seem to notice. He made polite conversation, ate methodically, and seemed consumed by his own concerns. As time went on, Bilbo wondered if Thorin was deep in thought or simply tired from the long journey. Maybe he should excuse himself and hope he could find his way back to the echoing chambers he’d been given.

“Bilbo, there is something we must speak of,” Thorin said, breaking off Bilbo’s increasingly wild train of mental excuses to leave.

“Of course, I’m listening,” he said.

“Ever since we reunited, I have said those words,” Thorin began, with a smile Bilbo couldn’t interpret. “Every time, I fail to say what I truly wish to say. I offer pieces of the truth instead of the depths of my heart. It’s maddening.”

Bilbo tried to keep his eyes fixed on Thorin, but his heart pounded, and he was sure his every emotion would rush across his face, leaving him open to Thorin’s observance.

He settled for looking at an elaborately stitched tapestry over Thorin’s shoulder and glancing frequently back to Thorin to show he was still listening.

“I came close last night,” Thorin continued. “I balanced on the edge of my courage, but I could not speak my mind. How does this happen? I have faced armies of foul things, done everything you know of me and more, and yet my courage fails me when I stand so close to the most important moment of my life. It is beyond my understanding.”

He stood and moved to the fire, turning his back to Bilbo. It was a relief he instantly regretted since it came at the loss of being able to read Thorin’s expression. Or try to. Bilbo felt as if he’d been transported back to the first days of the quest, before he’d learned to read Thorin’s face like one of his beloved maps. His wild emotions told him what he wanted Thorin to say, but he had no idea what the dwarf king was truly struggling with.

“Bilbo Baggins, when I met you, there was no sign, no warning, of who you would become. I beheld a person unlike any I had seen before, and I had no idea how to judge your worth. There was nothing I could recognize of the people who had lied to me, used me, or betrayed my hopes. I judged you harshly, hoping to find something in you that was familiar.”

Bilbo shifted in his seat, uncomfortable. Yes, Thorin hadn’t thought much of him when they met, but what did that have to do with anything?

“But how you proved me wrong! Your compassion for my people led you to stay when you could have gone home. You saved us all more times than anyone could have predicted. Because of you, I and my nephews live.” Thorin turned and now he wore the smile Bilbo was coming to think of as the one reserved for him. He approached slowly and knelt beside Bilbo’s chair.

“How have I repaid you? With harsh words, blame, and the utter inability to express how much my life remains in your hands,” he said, blue eyes taking on a light of their own. “Bilbo Baggins, words fall short to describe everything that is in my heart. All I can ask is that you will listen as I attempt an impossible task.”

“I will always listen,” Bilbo said quietly. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Thorin now, no matter how his pounding heart and burning face threatened to betray him. He shifted unconsciously, leaning closer to Thorin.

The wide room suddenly didn’t contain enough air. If Bilbo moved much closer, he was going to go cross-eyed trying to keep looking at Thorin…

The dwarf king’s blue eyes drifted half-closed as he moved subtly, gaining another fingerbreadth of space toward Bilbo.

“I don’t care how late it is, I must see him!” shouted a voice from the hall. Loud footsteps echoed in the hall, heavy dwarf boots and the lighter step of a Man. It must be a Man, because Elves stepped so lightly it was all but impossible to hear them approaching.

Bilbo jolted back from Thorin as if he’d been burned. Thorin surged to his feet, face blacker with fury than it had been even in the dragon-sickness.

Someone pounded on the door, even as Dwalin’s voice rose to protest that Thorin was not to be disturbed. Thorin heaved a deep breath and stalked to the door.

“What?’ he growled, yanking the heavy portal open. Bard stood before him, fist raised to keep knocking.

“Thorin, there’s trouble,” he said, striding past without a second glance at the cadre of warriors glowering balefully at him. Thorin grumbled acidly in his own tongue and slammed the door before Bilbo could slip through.

He stood to the side of the door, unsure if he could get out without disturbing the two monarchs.

“Rumors have reached me in Dale that you have a plan of something. None of the gossips seem to know what, but the tales grow wilder in the telling. Bain told me that the market is buzzing that you plan to bring your kin from all corners of the world. What am I to make of this? I must tell my people something or they will fear an attack from the Mountain.”

Thorin stared incredulously at Bard, automatically pouring him a glass of wine. Maybe Thorin didn’t want his guest, but Bilbo was proud he remembered his manners anyway.

“Nonsense,” Thorin declared. “Tell your people these rumors are baseless. I have not summoned any of my kin. If they should come, they will be welcome and controlled. I do not wish anything to upset the alliance between Erebor and Dale. How did any of this happen?”

Bard finally slumped into a chair at the table, though he was much too tall for it. “I don’t know,” he answered wearily. “I knew you left on a mission of your own and before much time passed, the rumors began flooding into Dale. You would tell me if any celebration was planned in the Mountain? I don’t need to know the secrets of your people’s sacred rites, but it would be wise to know when strangers are expected here.”

“Yes, of course.” Thorin waved a dismissive hand. “The only event of any note that has happened is my return and Bilbo’s visit among us. There will be celebration, but nothing requiring strangers. I intended to invite the people of Dale within days. They have as much right to celebrate Bilbo as the Dwarves do.”

Bilbo smiled sheepishly as Bard’s gaze fixed on him for the first time. Bard’s smile managed to be even more sheepish.

“I’m sorry, Bilbo. I didn’t see you there,” the Lake Man said, standing to give the Hobbit a brief bow. “I’m very glad you came back. You deprived our combined people of a hero by leaving the way you did.”

Bilbo bowed back, embarrassed. “I wouldn’t make much of a hero, Bard,” he said awkwardly. “No one would believe that I did all those things in the stories they must be telling.”

Bard smiled with the patience that only a father of three could muster. “Those stories aren’t any more ridiculous than the ones they tell about me nowadays,” he said somberly. “I’m looking forward to the celebrations,” he added, turning his gaze back to Thorin.

They fell to discussing arrangements and Bilbo heaved the door open. He would have liked to say good-night to Thorin but interrupting seemed like a bad idea. He smiled shyly to Dwalin, standing watch, and padded through the halls in search of his bed.

Maybe tomorrow he’d have more luck hearing what Thorin had to say.


End file.
